Circle of fifths

Circle of Fifths

Which keys and chords sit naturally together, and why songs move the way they do.

Popular chord progressions

Pick a key and these are the same four or five progressions written out with its chords. Play them round and round — most songs you know are hiding in here.

Tap any key on the wheel. Majors sit on the outside, their relative minors just inside. Neighbours on the wheel share almost all their notes, which is why moving between them sounds natural.

Relative minor: . These seven chords are the ones built from this key — almost any song in uses them.

Clear selection

Tap a string to hear the pitch it should sound. Play yours alongside it and turn the peg until the wobble between the two slows to nothing. Strings are numbered 6 (thickest) to 1 (thinnest).

Drop D only moves the thickest string — from E down to D. It puts a one-finger power chord under your hand on the bottom three strings.

DADGAD leaves the low D, A, D and G alone and drops the top two. Strummed open it rings as a suspended chord, which is why folk and fingerstyle players like it.

The minor loop

i – VI – III – VII

The backbone of most minor-key pop and rock. Sad but not heavy.

i – VII – VI – V

A descending line with a Spanish feel. The last chord wants to fall back to the first.

Minor blues turnaround

Three chords, endless mileage. Try it with a slow shuffle.

Lift to the relative major

i – III – VII – IV

Starts dark and opens up. Common in choruses that need to grow.

The four chords

The most used progression in popular music. If you learn one, learn this.

Fifties doo-wop

Warm and nostalgic. Works with almost any melody laid over it.

Blues in three

Folk, blues, country, punk. Play it twelve bars round for a standard blues.

The same four chords starting on the minor — brighter as it goes.

I – iii – IV – V

The minor third in the middle stops it feeling too sweet.

Clip the tuner to the headstock with the display facing you, and switch it on.

Check it is set to standard pitch — most tuners show 440 or A4=440 somewhere on screen.

Play one string on its own and let it ring. The tuner names the note it hears.

If the letter is wrong, you are nearer a different note — turn the peg slowly until the right letter appears.

Keep turning until the needle sits in the middle and the display turns green.

Work through all six, then go round again. Tightening one string slightly loosens the rest.

Get the low E right first from a tuner, a piano, or the reference tones above. Everything else follows it.

Hold the 5th fret of the low E and play it against the open A. Turn the A peg until the two notes stop fighting each other.

Do the same again: 5th fret of A against the open D, then 5th fret of D against the open G.

Hide chord shapes

See chord shapes in this key

The 1-2-3-4 walk

Low E then A — index, middle, ring, little. Carry the same shape across all six strings and back down.

Open string picking

One open string, shown here on the D. Down and up, every note the same volume.

Press, lift, replace

Play the note, lift the finger clear without moving your hand, then put it back in the same place.

Two-chord change

C on the left, G on the right. Swap between them on every fourth click.

Thumb and wrist check

Hold an E minor shape, check the thumb sits behind the neck and the wrist is straight, release, rebuild.